70s Children's TV

When I was a little kid I used to sit and watch TV with my tape
recorder running. Sometimes I would even narrate, to fill in the
details that wouldn't be preserved on audio tape (like the names of
all the songs that whiz by in those record offers!). Here are some of
my earliest and most precious audio treasures, plus a lot of
contributions from other 70s kids.

Kids Shows and Cartoons

Here's
the part of the theme song from Captain Kangaroo that I
didn't talk over on this tape.

Theme song from The Electric Company
(Heyyy Youuu Guyyyyyys!!!)

Memories of the ZOOM TV show

sounds...

ZOOM Theme song

A little fanfare that gets played often
during the show.

Incredibly dumb kazoo song they played at
least five times per show.

A girl on the show reading (unfortunately not
singing) their familiar postal address. (Box three five oh...)

The Ubby Dubby fugue. For true
ZOOM fans and neurotics only.

Some of you wanted to know the names of the
ZOOM kids. Here's one cast, straight from the mouth of
another kid: me! (I read the names aloud as they appeared on
the screen at the end of the show.)

images...

A devoted ZOOM fan sent in this scan of a cast listing
from ZOOM, listing the kids' names and ages.

Here's a nice composite image of some of the ZOOM kids.
I think it's from one of the later years.

ZOOM is back on the
air (new shows). Visit the new ZOOM website here.

Here is an adorable thank-you for these
sound clips, from a family of ZOOM fans, new and old.
(RealAudio format.)

Brief
synthsizer selection played over PBS logo, often heard
after the above shows

Theme
song to Josie and the Pussycats

Theme
song from Felix The Cat. Granted, this goes back way
before 1973, but that's when I made this tape.

Here's a promo for Run, Joe, Run!, a show about a dog who
is relentlessly pursued for something he didn't do.

Make way for Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch.

Theme song from the cartoon version of Gilligan's
Island

Introduction to the TV show SHAZAM! (You can hear my
Australian dad laughing at it, if you listen closely.)

ISIS was the feminine counterpart to SHAZAM.

This introduction should sound familiar.

To turn into the Egyptian Godess, she
had to intone, "Oh, Mighty Isis!".

Here's the outro music. To me, it's
very reminiscent of Charlie's Angels.

Also check out this picture of an
ISIS doll.

Think Pink! Here are three sound bites from the Pink Panther
cartoon (the later one, with dialogue).

Opening theme.

A memorable bit, in which the Pink Panther
keeps crushing the inspector by opening the door onto him,
alternately from the left, from the right, then down.

Outro, with cute descriptions of other
shows.

Remember those brief In The News news magazines for kids?
Here's an entire one in RealAudio format, complete with a
commercial for the Marathon Bar in the middle. Today's
topic is Fast Food in School Lunches.

By request, here is a commercial boasting of all the colors available
from Crayola.

Charles Nelson Reilly puts in a fun plug for Bic Banana Ink
Crayons.

She's my Dusty, the action/fashion doll that comes with
the award/night set. She plays tennis and golf, and looks beautiful,
too.

Get up and go with Cheerios, with Super
Stripes for your bike in specially-marked boxes.

Here's a memorable commercial for the Evel Knievel Shock
Absorbing Stunt Cycle. You can't miss that cool noise it makes
when you wind it up.

In case Evel wasn't enough for you, how about these SSP
Ultrachrome Racers?

Honeycomb's big, yeah yeah yeah. It's not small, no no
no!

Here's some dolls I'll bet no one has anymore: Steve
Scout and Bob Scout, approved by the Boy Scouts of
America.

Everyone remembers Count Chocula and
Frankenberry, but Boo Berry was the most
lovable of all. I used to have a Boo Berry beach towel.

Commercial for Freakies Cereal. We are the freakies!
Everyone still have your free Freaky Magnets? They're not free
anymore! Believe it or not, The
Freakies Company is alive and well and has a web site! They offer
T-shirts, videos, pictures for children to color and more.

They also have nice lawyers:

The "Freakies" Song is the copyrighted property of The
Freakies Company and is used with permission. The Freakies
Company is not responsible for the content of this web site.
Any commercial use of this material, or any unauthorized
display, distribution, transmission or other use of this
material, is expressly prohibited.

McDonalds commercial (Ronald goes to the moon to get
cheese for cheeseburgers)

Another
McDonalds ad (Who's the McFriendliest fellow in town...)

A
mercifully short clip of the theme music from Funshine Saturday
On ABC. If you want no mercy, here's a
RealAudio clip of the
whole song.

This isn't the most memorable, but it's still a Burger King
commercial from the 1970s.

Here's
an adorable public service announcement to warn kids not to regard
pills as candy. Some cute little pill-puppets danced around and sang
in squeaky pill-voices, "This is serious: we can make you
delirious...". I think it was called, We're Not Candy.

How seventies can you get? Here's an ad for Charlies
Angels dolls.

When you were little, the Big Wheel was your
ride!

For the bigger kids, the Green Machine was much cooler.

The Mad Cow phenomenon might have put Crazy Cow cereal
right out of business if it had happened 20 years earlier.

Here's a later Sugar Smacks commercial, still with the
original frog voice.

Remember those little hand gyroscope exerciser thingies? Why?

Wanna drive yourself nuts? Play this commercial for
Kidalongs (made by Tomy) about 10 times in a row!

Here's a later variation on the "Who's the McFriendliest"
McDonalds commercial.

Here's a PSA (public service announcement) to suggest kids should save
their money.

This is a memorable one for Frankenberry and Count
Chocula. Sorry, no mention of Boo Berry in this
one.

Mr. Mouth, Mr. Mouth. You'll remember this one. It's for a game.

I
have a small child that disobeys me. But for those who want one in
doll form, try Baby Thataway.

Even if you were in the midst of a tricky game of
Twister, you could probably sing this jingle better than
these guys did!